The Maple-Flavoured Superman
by Morninglight
Summary: Fourth in the 'Colonel Shepard, Australian Digger' series. Major Kaidan Alenko, commander of the Canadian forces during the Reaper War, is reinforced by those led by a woman he's cared for since they first met years ago. Her reappearance gives him hope that perhaps they will win this war... and he gives her the strength to keep on fighting.


Note: Thanks for reading and reviewing! Another in the Colonel Shepard, Australian Digger series. Digger!Kaidan is a Vanguard (just seems right for him). Trigger warnings for fantastic racism and implied sexual intercourse.

…

"Alenko, I have good news and bad news."

Kaidan continued to repair his assault rifle as Admiral Hackett delivered new orders. "Better give me the bad news first, Admiral."

"Well, it's on the heels of the good news, so I might as well deliver _that_ first. The ANZACs drove the Reapers out of Australia and New Zealand."

The Vanguard-class Marine checked the heat-sink slot, regarding the radio from which Hackett's tinny voice issued wryly. "I'm not surprised. Between the wildlife and the Diggers…"

Hackett chuckled ruefully. "They beat feet after Colonel Regan Shepard used the Commonwealth's eezo deposits to… ah… how did she put it? 'Throw a space-prawn on the barbie'."

"I've met Regan. She's the only one crazy enough to try such a stunt and the only one _skilled_ enough to pull it off." Kaidan, never a fool, eased a new heat-sink into the rifle before adding, "I assume the bad news is that when she arrives, she's taking command?"

"Technically General Oates is in charge but Colonel Shepard and Major Ngaire Parata are essentially the field commanders," Hackett confirmed briskly. "If it's any consolation, the Colonel said she looked forward to working with you."

Kaidan refrained from mentioning that he and Colonel Shepard knew each other intimately. Even though they could hardly be held to the regs about fraternisation with giant robots unleashing a literal Armageddon, the information was none of Hackett's concern. Still, Regan _was_ an exceptional soldier, Infiltrator-class with weak biotics who didn't understand the meaning of the word 'quit'.

He only knew of Major Parata by reputation, but that reputation was a good one: the Maori woman was considered one of the finest soldiers in the Commonwealth division of the Alliance, someone who held her own in the open MMA competition held yearly and won three times in the past six years.

"What's their ETA?" he asked, holstering his rifle. "Once this transmission is over, we're bugging out. Only thing keeping us alive at the moment."

"ETA's now," said a light soprano with the accent of a New Zealander; Kaidan looked over his shoulder to see a Maori woman standing almost six feet tall with muscles enough to make James Vega, reigning MMA champion of the Alliance Division, raw with envy. "Admiral, Shepard's helping Oates organise the troops."

"Good job, Parata." Hackett saluted as Kaidan stood up. "Good luck out there. We think the next big push will be in what's left of London, so stay alive because that's where you will likely be going."

Parata saluted as Hackett winked out. Kaidan was a fraction too late, not that Hackett would care. Her BDUs were tattered and torn, lines of strain and pain graven into that striking broad-boned face. "Tell your people to grab a quick shower and fresh BDUs," Kaidan suggested. "We can't take our supplies with us anyway."

The Maori woman grinned, teeth flashing against her olive-brown skin. "I can see why Regan calls you the 'maple-flavoured Superman'," she laughed. "Standing for truth, justice and the Canadian way."  
"Oh hell, I'm sorry…" Kaidan ran a hand through his hair, static crackling around his fingers.

"Don't be. Social niceties are going by the wayside thanks to the Reapers and to be honest, we probably stink to high heaven," Parata assured him. "Regan _did_ tell us to try and give ourselves a quick clean if we could."

"Great minds think alike," Kaidan murmured. "Be ready to bug out in three hours."

"Yes, Major Alenko." Parata grinned again and vanished from the bunker, leaving Kaidan to go in search of Regan and General Oates.

He found her stripped down to underwear and wiping herself down with alcohol wipes as she snapped out orders General Oates relayed to the troops. Thin as a rake – and never a curvaceous woman to begin with – her orange-blonde hair was brittle and lank, biotic-blue eyes sunk deep into her gaunt face. A far cry from the laughing, unapologetically Australian Digger who pantsed Kai Leng in a bar nearly ten years ago.

General Jane Oates didn't look much better, but she wasn't a biotic who needed so many more calories than other soldiers. Kaidan fished around his BDUs, found the three strawberry-flavoured protein bars he loathed, and handed them to Regan after tapping on her shoulder.

"If it isn't the maple-flavoured Superman himself," she greeted with a brief grin, weak as humanity's current grip on Earth.

"Hello, Colonel," Kaidan greeted, unexpectedly blushing. He didn't know how even when she looked and probably felt like shit, Regan managed to return him to the newly enlisted recruit he'd been when he met her.

"Please don't stand on formality, Major," General Oates told him. "We're all in the hole and Shepard's running the show on the battlefield."

He vaguely recalled the General being one of those desktop commanders; at least this one was smart enough to leave the job of ordering the battle to someone who knew what she was doing.

"General, can you do what you do best and see what can be salvaged?" Regan asked her commanding officer.

Jane's tea-brown eyes brightened as she saw something she could do, so she stood up and grabbed the datapad containing their list of supplies. "Tell the soldiers to grab a shower and fresh BDUs," Kaidan suggested. "They'll feel better for it."

The General nodded and left. Now he and Regan were alone.

"You look like shit," Kaidan finally said bluntly.

"Not all of us can fight giant space-prawns and come out looking beautiful like you, Alenko," Regan responded with forced joviality, though he saw the flash of hurt in her eyes.

"Shit, I didn't mean… I mean you looked like you've been dragged facedown through all seven circles of hell," Kaidan said quickly. "Not that you're ugly or anything, because you're not."

Suddenly she was in his arms, weeping into the shoulder of his BDUs. Kaidan simply embraced her, letting all the tears that she must have wanted to shed come out while they had a moment of quiet. How close was she to breaking that a simple observation would reduce her, the strongest-willed person he knew, to crying?

When she raised her eyes to him again, she still looked like shit, but the spark was back in her blue eyes. "Sorry for being a sook," she muttered.

"We've had a horrible time of it but until recently, I had someone else's orders to follow." Kaidan rubbed her back soothingly, feeling her fainter biotics crackle where they touched his. "I have some filtered water if you want to wash your hair and face."

"I love you, Kaidan," Regan said fervently before taking the suggestion. A few squirts of liquid soap and the rest of his water bottle had her hair dripping wet but clean, the dirt on her face removed to reveal features vastly aged by this war but still beautiful to him.

As she washed herself, she gave him a quick report on everything that happened, and he followed suit as she wrung the water from her hair. Then she devoured all three protein bars after Kaidan assured her there were a _lot_ more where they came from (she was the only one he knew who liked the fake strawberry flavour) and washed them down with the beer he produced from the fridge.

Clean, fed and watered, she looked more like the Regan he recalled, the Regan he discreetly kept in touch with. If this war hadn't happened, Kaidan would have joined the other Commonwealth forces on Operation Southern Star and sorted out their relationship, such as it was. Then…

Not that there hadn't been other lovers for the pair of them, but judging by the tone of Regan's letters, she and he were both marked by their one night stand. An asari he knew called it 'biotic resonance' or something like that; all he knew was that he and this woman fit together better than they both would admit.

"The first cockatoos will arrive in Terran space in three weeks," she told him.

"Turians, Regan, for the love of God call them turians." Her casual racism was a little off-putting, but he could help her through it. Even _if_ turians were the biggest militaristic assholes in the galaxy.

"Fine, turians." Regan scowled. "I guess I'm just not impressed with them fucking around and doing diplomatic shit with the krogan before coming to help us, okay?"

"None of us are," Kaidan agreed. "Doesn't mean we need to be dicks."

"Yes, Superman," the Australian sighed. "I'm glad you're here. You always were a diplomat and Boy Scout. With this damn war, I stopped being nice a while ago."

"We all have to some extent," Kaidan admitted softly. "When this is over, I'm moving to my grandpa's orchard in the BC interior and fuck the rest of the galaxy."

A wicked smirk bloomed across Regan's face as Kaidan groaned inwardly, realising what he'd let himself in for. Instead of letting her make the inevitable joke, he grabbed her again and kissed her fervently. Her hands grasped at his arms, pulling him closer, and the old chemistry between them bloomed.

When it was over, they quickly cleaned themselves up as someone knocked on the door to the little office in the bunker, then opened it: it was Parata with fresh BDUs and a knowing smile. "Now you two have caught up, we need to start bugging out," the Major informed them. "Everything's been salvaged – I must admit, Kaidan, I'm impressed with your people."

"Thanks," Kaidan said sheepishly.

"Welcome. Oates is taking us further north towards the Arctic Circle." Ngaire's smile was a tight thing. "Apparently Reapers don't do well in those conditions, according to the Russians."

"Good ol' General Winter," Regan murmured. Kaidan recalled that she sometimes read military history books. "I suppose if we can't fry these space-prawns, we'll deep freeze them instead."

"My thought exactly." Parata turned away and left as Regan get dressed. Kaidan armoured up, handing Regan his sniper rifle. "It's cleaned and loaded," he assured her.

She held the rifle up and sighted along its barrel, one blue eye narrowing. "Nice gun," she said.

"Dad's last birthday gift to me. We were going to go hunting this winter…" Kaidan sighed; he had no idea where his parents were.

"Williams will come home with all the menagerie the galaxy has to offer and we'll kick the space-prawns back to wherever they come from," Regan assured him with somewhat forced optimism. "And when it's done and if there's room, maybe I'll visit your grandpa's orchard."

"For you, there's always room," Kaidan told her. "I'd… like to figure out what's between us, if you do."

Regan's smile was like the first sunrise after a long winter, weak but warm with hope. "I'd like that."

She then walked out and Kaidan smiled for the first time in forever. It would be alright for the both of them.

He would, however, need to talk about this 'maple-flavoured Superman' crap when he couldn't even stand maple syrup…


End file.
